Sunday, August 21, 2011

Maine to New Hampshire to New Yorkto Pennsylvania to Ohio to Michigan to Indiana toIllinois to Wisconsin to Minnesota to North Dakota to Montana.

These were the states I travelled through over the span of 2 weeks. Hopefully this will help explain (but not excuse) my absence. I really have nothing to offer about why there was only one post in July.

At any rate, before I left I finally received my first Luxe Box. For those of you who don't know, Luxe Box is the Canadian Birch-Glossy-Sparkly-Glittery-Eco-Shiny-Frilly box. Basically, it's just a service that allows you to sign up (and pay) for a subscription to receive deluxe samples of beauty and skincare items in the mail on a monthly basis.

This company almost made my blacklist. I was pretty positive I had signed up for the months of June-July-August and when I didn't receive the June Luxe box and couldn't get much of a response from the company, I was not a happy camper. Eventually though, I got in contact with someone who assured me I had actually signed up for July-August-September, so then I lowered my fists a little.

Right before I moved I took a few photos of the goods for you!

Cute packaging, no?

Contents:

1.) A full-sized Essie polish. These can retail anywhere from $7-15, depending on where you live and where you're shopping. It's nice that they included a full-size here, that fact doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. But the shade, 'In Stitches' makes me want to say 'meh' - a word I never typically use.

2.) A sample-sized 'Proclaim' hair oil treatment. This made me wish I would have filled out my profile a little differently, though I feel like surely I said that I'd prefer cosmetic items over hair care. In any case, I have Moroccan Oil, Macadamia Oil, and a bottle of Chi Silk Infusion sitting in my cupboard right now. Another hair oil is kind of the last thing I need. As for the quality of this product, I'll let you know when I get through some of the others.

3.) A sample-sized fragrance: "Stella in Two Peony." Believe it or not, this little sample was the hidden gem of the Luxe Box for me. I used it up in about 2 days and am contemplating getting a full size eventually. It's quite pleasing to the ol' olfactory.

4.) The fourth and final product didn't make me go 'meh' as much as it made me go 'what the hell?' The card that came with my box clearly stated that I was receiving a Truccolipliner. My first thought (before I took it out of the box) was: 'oh, it's another full-sized product, YAY!' My second thought was the aforementioned 'what the hell?' coupled with a befuddled 'it's grey????' Upon further research, I discovered that these (very creamy) pencils can be used as lipliners or eyeliners. So we're good. Still, I can't help but wonder if they ran out of lipliners by the time they got around to putting my box together.

Overall, I'd give my first box a B-. Seeing two full-sized products made me extremely happy, but none of the products, other than the perfume, thrilled me. And I don't even think the little perfume sample was completely full so it was gone in no time (I believe the full-sized version is about $56 to purchase).

I'm excited to see what the August Luxe Box has in store. The good thing about this service is that at the very least it's something to look forward to each month! Who doesn't love getting stuff in the mail?

For good measure I'll leave you with a few completely unedited, 100% true-to-life pictures of a lovely sunset in my home province. Enjoy.

Back to Del Rio has been discontinued which is unfortunate because I love me some vampy lustres (lustres are my favourite finish of MAC lipsticks).

Show Orchid is definitely the most unique of the bunch; there is a blue-ish tint that hasn't quite shown itself in these pictures. If you think that Girl About Town and Show Orchid are too similar to own both, I would beg to differ! You NEED both! (If you're a fan of bright, juicy-looking lips especially!)

Like Viva Glam Gaga, Viva Glam Cyndi has been discontinued. BUT I know of a few people who have found this gorgeous gem in their MAC stores in the past few weeks. Could never hurt to check!

I LOVE the tinted lip conditioners. They have an SPF of 15, smell heavily of vanilla (even more so than the regular lipstick line), and feel like butter on the lips.

Of the two tinted lip conditioners, Fuchsia Fix is by far my favourite. Its purpose is to moisturize and protect your lips more than anything - but, I appreciate the fact that it has much better colour payoff than Petting Pink.

Not a huge fan of Dazzleglasses. They are sticky and the amount of glitter is pretty intense.

Plushglasses are my favourite type of MAC lipgloss. They are less sticky than the others and make my lips feel tingly (some plumping properties). They are also infused with a larger amount of that vanilla scent, which for some might be nauseating. But the more scent the better is my motto! HOWEVER, as you can tell from the photos, Pretty Plush is nothing spectacular colour-wise. It almost just looks like a clear gloss with a tiny amount of sparkle. Not my thing!

If you were to get any of these things, I would personally suggest the tinted lip conditioners! But then, lipgloss is not exactly my forté!

Hope the swatches were satisfactory! My arm had faint lipstick stains on it for a couple days after I took these photos. Oh, the things we do for beauty....

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Seems I haven't quite mastered the self-shot. Perhaps I just didn't put enough effort into practice during the MySpace years, and so I haven't yet figured out the most flattering lighting (story of my life!) or "slimming" camera angles. Nevertheless, here we are....

Simple, quick, easy peasy. This is the type of face I'd slap on to go to work. Can't usually be bothered with "blending my crease" or "darkening my outer V" at 6:30 a.m. Painterly Paintpot is my saviour.

In other news... gave the blog a slight facelift so that I'd feel older than 12! :)
I prefer this simple design - and the box is quite fitting for me since I usually have something either beauty or fashion related on its way to me in the post. Let me know what you think!

Monday, June 6, 2011

I'm a bad blogger! BAD! I should probably work on that - especially considering the fact that I think I'm actually more cut out to write about beauty products than make videos about them. (Though, I'm still enjoying making videos about them, too!)

I'm here today with another Lush haul. I ordered a bunch of goodies from them awhile back because I was all out and basically dying to be able to lie in a sea of bubbles while reading a good book. FYI: Bubbles and books = one of my favourite combinations.

I decided to get all bubble bars because as I mentioned in a previous post... they are far and above my favourite Lush products. Not really feeling the bath bombs. It's like they fizzle for a few minutes and then disappear. Kinda anti-climactic. Bubble bars, on the other hand, give you something to savour and enjoy for the entirety of your bathing experience!

This is the "Karma" bubble bar. I tried it for the first time the other day and actually quite liked it. It's definitely not my favourite, but I would consider repurchasing.

What it looks like after I get at it with a knife. (This one is a little smaller than some of the others, so I just cut it into 4 chunks).

An eternal favourite of mine: "The Comforter" bubble bar. This is the second one of these that I've owned, and because it's kind of massive I get 6 chunks out of it. Just look at its pink swirly deliciousness!

"Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds" - just the name of it makes me feel happy on the inside. I haven't tried this one yet, but it smells divine. It's about the same size as "The Comforter" so again, 6 chunks.

This one is called the "Dorothy" bubble bar, and is the only one I purchased that I hadn't received recommendations for or even heard about. It's a bit smaller than the others, so I just halved it (no picture - sorry!) I have to say... this is right up there with "The Comforter" for me. It MIGHT even surpass it. I've already used the whole thing (except the rainbow, which fell off when I cut it in half) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tho-rough-ly.

Oh! I did get something other than just bubble bars:

This is the Sweet Lips Chocolate & Vanilla Lip Scrub. You know anything that has chocolate in its name is on my radar. LOVE THIS. It's legitimately yummy. I use it just about every day, which I'm probably not supposed to, but.... lip exfoliation FTW!

Also got a couple of samples that I haven't used yet:

Annnd that's it for this round! I'm glad to finally have bubbles back in my life.... nobody does bubbles better than Lush.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Red nailpolish is one of my favourite things in life. I love its universality and how it tends to look completely classic and sophisticated. My friend Christiana recommended this red to me awhile back and I'm glad she did!

The specs:

Name: Essie "Limited Addiction"

Shade: A beautiful, deep, blood-red

Availability Status: This came out with Essie's Fall 2010 collection. It is therefore limited edition BUT is still readily available on the interwebz... I got mine from my most trusted e-bay seller

Application: Nice!

Longevity: Average, but chips will be quite noticeable as is always the case with red polishes

Yes, my nails have seen better days than the day this photo was taken. But still, look how pretty!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

It's no secret what my favourite type of makeup product is. I love the way a bright lipstick can bring life to the face and how a deep, dark shade is able to evoke a sense of mystery. Lips, to me, are just as versatile and intriguing as eyes. I'm going to share my favourite light purple lipstick with you today!

This is "Blooming Lovely" and it came out with MAC's "Give Me Liberty of London" collection which was launched in the March of 2010. This is a perfect purple for those of us who enjoy wearable purple lipsticks because it really is quite pinkish (with strong purple undertones) on the lips. My lips at least.

It's also an Amplified finish, which is one of MAC's best finishes I would say. The longevity, the wear, and the application are all typical of other MAC Amplified lipsticks.

The only negative thing I can think of about these purple/lavender hues is that they aren't all that flattering for the teeth. You know how bright blue-based pinks and reds make teeth appear pearly white? I would say this has an opposite effect. It won't make your teeth look banana-yellow (unless they already are banana-yellow) but it won't make them appear whiter than they actually are either.

Despite that slight downfall, however, this lipstick still manages to be incredibly flattering. The colour purple just has a way of bringing out the best in everyone.

Unfortunately, this blooming lovely lipstick is limited edition and since the collection came out over a year ago now I would say it's darn near impossible to get your hands on it. The good news? I have a new-in-box, never-used, never-opened backup that I'm considering using for a giveaway at some point. I'm not sure if I'll do it here on my blog or on YouTube or Twitter - but stay tuned for that!

What do you think about purple lipsticks? Would you ever wear this colour?